UPDATE 3-Truck, luxury car demand drive record June sales in Canada

Reuters Staff

3 Min Read

(Recasts with total Canadian sales)

By Susan Taylor

TORONTO, July 2 (Reuters) - A healthy appetite for trucks and luxury cars pushed auto sales in Canada to a record high for June, with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles the top seller, according to data released on Thursday.

Overall sales nudged 1.2 percent higher to 177,857 cars and light trucks, making it the strongest June on record. Year-to-date sales were up 2.7 percent at 933,439 vehicles.

“Ongoing gains being enjoyed by the luxury manufacturers in the Canadian market turned into a veritable feast in June,” DesRosiers Automotive Consultants wrote in a note to clients.

A handful of luxury brands exceeded gains of 25 percent, the automotive research firm said. Land Rover and Acura sales both rose 28 percent, with Porsche sales 26 percent higher.

The strongest-performing full-line manufacturers included a 15 percent jump for General Motors to 24,226 vehicles, a 10 percent lift at Nissan to 11,623 vehicles, and a 10.5 percent gain at Toyota to 20,689 vehicles.

Toyota’s Canadian sales rose to 20,689 vehicles as trucks climbed 19 percent to a record 10,750. Toyota said overall sales for the first half of the year were up 4.3 percent from the year-before period to 104,977 vehicles.

In the United States, June auto sales rose to about 1.47 million vehicles, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier, according to figures compiled by WardsAuto.

U.S. demand for sport utility vehicles and trucks helped GM and Ford offset slowing demand for sedans as it allowed them to raise truck and SUV prices. (Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Matthew Lewis; and Peter Galloway)